U.S. patent number 6,408,092 [Application Number 09/144,368] was granted by the patent office on 2002-06-18 for handwritten input in a restricted area.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Adobe Systems Incorporated. Invention is credited to Richard L. Sites.
United States Patent |
6,408,092 |
Sites |
June 18, 2002 |
**Please see images for:
( Certificate of Correction ) ** |
Handwritten input in a restricted area
Abstract
Methods and apparatus implementing a technique for processing
handwritten marks made on a machine-readable tablet. The technique
includes providing multiple regions for input on the tablet;
receiving from a user handwritten marks made in a current region of
the plurality of regions; receiving from the user an indication
that the current region is complete and thereupon selecting a
different one of the plurality of regions as the current region in
which to receive handwritten marks made by the user, whereby marks
are received in a sequence of at least two regions; and
representing the handwritten input as the aggregate of the marks
written in the sequence of regions in a writing direction, the
marks in different input regions having positions with respect to
each other defined by a logical concatenation of the regions on the
sequence of regions. The input can be arbitrarily-long markings of
any kind.
Inventors: |
Sites; Richard L. (Menlo Park,
CA) |
Assignee: |
Adobe Systems Incorporated (San
Jose, CA)
|
Family
ID: |
22508278 |
Appl.
No.: |
09/144,368 |
Filed: |
August 31, 1998 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
382/187; 345/158;
345/169; 345/179; 382/188; 382/314; 715/205; 715/210; 715/233;
715/234 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F
3/04883 (20130101); G06F 3/04886 (20130101); G06K
9/222 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G06F
3/033 (20060101); G06K 9/22 (20060101); G06K
009/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;382/175-179,186-189,314
;345/158,173,473,178-180,47 ;707/541 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Other References
"Wisdom Pen, Chinese Hand-writing Recognition System," Newest
Release Version 3.0, Alestron Inc., 2 pgs., downloaded from www.
Aug. 30, 1998. .
W. Zhao, "Solving the Chinese Puzzle," BYTE Magazine, 2 pgs., Jul.
1996, downloaded from www. .
"Chinese Handwriting Recognition System," Motorola, Wisdom Pen
product information, 3 pgs., downloaded from www. Aug. 30, 1998.
.
"Jot.TM. 2.0 for Microsoft Windows CE 2.0 Handheld Platform,"
Communication Intelligence Corp., 3 pgs., downloaded from www. Jul.
26, 1998. .
"Forms solutions for the 3Com PalmPilot organizer and IBM WorkPad
PC companion," 4 pgs., downloaded from www. Aug. 30, 1998..
|
Primary Examiner: Couso; Jose L.
Assistant Examiner: Desire; Gregory
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Fish & Richardson P.C.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method for processing handwritten input received as marks made
on a machine-readable tablet, comprising:
providing a plurality of predefined regions for input on the
tablet;
receiving from a user handwritten marks made in a current region of
the plurality of predefined regions;
receiving from the user an indication that the marks in the current
region are complete and thereupon providing a different one of the
plurality of predefined regions as the current region in which to
receive handwritten marks made by the user, whereby completed marks
are received in a sequence of at least two regions;
repeating the acts of receiving marks and providing a different
region until the user indicates that the handwritten input is
complete, wherein a region can be reused as a current region
without overwriting marks previously made by the user in the region
when it was previously the current region; and
representing the handwritten input as a concatenation of the
completed marks as written in the sequence of regions, the
completed marks being concatenated in a writing direction, the
completed marks having positions with respect to each other defined
by a logical concatenation of their respective regions in the
sequence in which regions were marked.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
defining a bounding box for each region and logically concatenating
the bounding boxes to define the positions of the completed marks
in different regions with respect to each other.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein:
each bounding box has a length in the writing direction, which
length is defined dynamically to fit the marks made in the
region.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein:
the bounding box for each region has a leading boundary, the
position of which is fixed with respect to the region, and a
trailing boundary, the position of which varies with respect to the
region to accommodate the marks made in the region.
5. The method of claim 3, wherein:
representing the handwritten input comprises combining in an output
stream mark data derived from each region as a chunk of data to
form a sequence of chunks with the locations of bounding box
boundaries being specified in the output stream.
6. The method of claim 5; wherein:
the tablet is a display tablet integrating an input tablet and a
display device;
the plurality of predefined regions consists of two predefined
regions; and
the user indicates that the current one of the two regions is
complete by making a mark in the other one of the two regions; the
method further comprising:
receiving handwritten marks at any place and in any arbitrary order
within the current region;
displaying a recently-written portion of the handwritten marks at a
reduced size in a reviewing area on the display device;
displaying on the display device the handwritten marks made by the
user in the current region substantially simultaneously with the
making of the marks;
clearing the display of the current region after the user indicates
that the current region is complete;
storing the received handwritten marks as mark data in a memory
operatively coupled to the tablet; and
combining the stored mark data from each region as a chunk in the
output stream.
7. The method of claim 2, wherein:
each bounding box has a width perpendicular to the writing
direction, which width is the same for all bounding boxes.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the regions have a writing
direction but no other predefined structure with respect to the
marks to be made within the regions.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the logical concatenation of
regions comprises logically concatenating a trailing edge of one
region to a leading edge of an immediately subsequent region.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein
the writing direction defines the direction in which groups of
characters are written and read; and
the writing direction is horizontal.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein
the writing direction defines the direction in which groups of
characters are written and read; and
the writing direction is vertical.
12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
receiving handwritten marks at any place and in any arbitrary order
within the current region.
13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
displaying a representation of the handwritten marks being made in
the current region substantially simultaneously with the making of
the marks.
14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
storing the handwritten marks as mark data in a memory operatively
coupled to the tablet; and
combining the stored mark data to form the representation of the
handwritten input.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein:
the mark data represents the marks made by the user as set of times
and positions of a stylus on the tablet.
16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:
displaying a recently-written portion of the handwritten marks as
made by the user and displaying the marks made by the user in the
current region while marks are being made in the current
region.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein the tablet is a display tablet
having an integrated display device, the method further
comprising:
displaying on the display device both the recently-written portion
of the handwritten marks as made by the user and the marks being
made in the current region.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein displaying the recently-written
portion of the handwritten marks comprises:
displaying the recently-written portion of the handwritten marks at
a reduced size in a reviewing area on the display device.
19. The method of claim 1, wherein:
logical concatenation of the sequence of regions comprises
logically trimming unmarked space from one end but not from the
opposite end of each of the regions before logically concatenating
the one end of the region with a sequentially neighboring
region.
20. The method of claim 1, wherein:
the plurality of regions consists of two regions; and
the user indicates that the current one of the two regions is
complete by making a mark in the other one of the two regions.
21. The method of claim 20, wherein the tablet is a display tablet
having an integrated display device, the method further
comprising:
displaying on the display device a representation of the
handwritten marks being made in the current region substantially
simultaneously with the making of the marks; and
clearing the display of the current region after the user indicates
that the current region is complete.
22. The method of claim 1, wherein:
receiving handwritten marks in the current region includes
receiving editing marks including marks denoting a modification of
marks previously made in the current region.
23. The method of claim 22, wherein:
the modification is erasure.
24. The method of claim 1, wherein:
the handwritten input is a signature.
25. The method of claim 1, wherein:
the tablet has an active area with a length of less than about two
and one-half inches in the writing direction.
26. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
displaying the handwritten input in lines that break at the region
boundaries.
27. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of regions
consists of a first region and a second region, the method further
comprising:
receiving marks in the first region and the second region
alternately and concatenating to an output stream mark data derived
from each region as a chunk of data to form a sequence of
chunks.
28. The method of claim 27, further comprising:
displaying the mark data in the output stream by reflowing the mark
data in units of chunks in a display area.
29. The method of claim 28, wherein the display area is a
rectangular area defined within an electronic document.
30. The method of claim 27, further comprising:
editing the sequence of chunks by deleting a chunk, by inserting a
chunk, by replacing a chunk, by modifying a chunk, or by
rearranging chunks.
31. Apparatus comprising a storage medium tangibly embodying
program instructions operable for causing a programmable processor
to:
provide a plurality of predefined regions for input on the
tablet;
receive from a user handwritten marks made in a current region of
the plurality of predefined regions;
receive from the user an indication that the marks in the current
region are complete and thereupon provide a different one of the
plurality of predefined regions as the current region in which to
receive handwritten marks made by the user, whereby completed marks
are received in a sequence of at least two regions;
repeat the acts of receiving marks and providing a different region
until the user indicates that the handwritten input is complete,
wherein a region can be reused as a current region without
overwriting marks previously made by the user in the region when it
was previously the current region; and
represent the handwritten input as a concatenation of the completed
marks as written in the sequence of regions, the completed marks
being concatenated in a writing direction, the completed marks
having positions with respect to each other defined by a logical
concatenation of their respective regions in the sequence in which
regions were marked.
32. The apparatus of claim 31, further comprising instructions
operable for causing a programmable processor to perform the method
of claim 30.
33. The apparatus of claim 31 further comprising instructions
operable for causing a programmable processor to:
define a bounding box for each region and logically concatenating
the bounding boxes to define the positions of the completed marks
in different regions with respect to each other.
34. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the regions have a writing
direction but no other predefined structure with respect to the
marks to be made within the regions.
35. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the logical concatenation of
regions comprises logically concatenating a trailing edge of one
region to a leading edge of an immediately subsequent region.
36. The apparatus of claim 31, further comprising instructions
to:
receive handwritten marks at any place and in any arbitrary order
within the current region.
37. The apparatus of claim 31, further comprising instructions
to:
display a representation of the handwritten marks being made in the
current region substantially simultaneously with the making of the
marks.
38. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein:
the plurality of regions consists of two regions; and
the user indicates that the current one of the two regions is
complete by making a mark in the other one of the two regions.
39. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the plurality of regions
consists of a first region and a second region, the apparatus
further comprising instructions to:
receive marks in the first region and the second region alternately
and concatenate to an output stream mark data derived from each
region as a chunk of data to form a sequence of chunks.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to digital electronic systems that
receive and use handwritten input in the nature of text.
Handwritten computer input has traditionally been captured using a
stylus and a graphics tablet. Graphics tablets have a flat surface
on which a user makes marks with the stylus that become electronic
signals representing the successive positions of the stylus on the
active area of the tablet. Many tablets, such as the graphics
tablet products available from Wacom Technology Corporation of
Vancouver, Wash., are pressure sensitive and provide pressure data
along with position data. The Wacom tablets include tablets ranging
in size from 4.times.5 to 18.times.25 (inches) and provide 256
levels (that is, eight bits) of pressure sensitivity. Other vendors
provide larger and smaller tablets as well as tablets of different
pressure sensitivity. Such tablets are generally connected to a
personal computer to provide a superset of the functionality
available with a mouse. In this configuration, position and
pressure data are transmitted to an operating system or application
program that ultimately generates display data on a display screen
in response to gestures the user makes with the stylus on the
tablet.
An input tablet can also be integrated with a display device, such
as a liquid crystal display device. Such display tablets are well
known from their use in personal digital assistant (PDA) devices
such as the PalmPilot.TM. and Palm III.TM. organizers available
from 3Com Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif. The input tablets on
these devices are characteristically small, having an active area
with a width on the order of two to two and one-half inches in the
direction in which the user generally writes.
An input tablet can also be integrated with a keyboard or notebook
computer, or added to a computer as a separate device, as a
substitute for a mouse or other pointing device. In some products,
such input tablets are also pressure sensitive.
With some input devices and software, marks made on a tablet can be
erased or edited after they are made. The Wacom Erasing
DuoSwitch.RTM. UltraPen.RTM. stylus, for example, has an eraser end
that can be recognized as an eraser by device driver software and
application software. Input tablets that are used as substitutes
for a mouse generally support click and double-click functions. PDA
devices generally support editing functions that can be invoked by
gestures made by the user on the device's display tablet, either in
the form of editing marks drawn on the tablet or in the form of
gestures that select editing buttons.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Handwritten input in the nature of text is generally written in
lines of script or characters, either horizontally or vertically,
and either left-to-right or right-to-left. The length of a
handwritten input can easily exceed the writing width available on
an input tablet. The invention provides methods and apparatus that
allow a person using an input tablet--in particular, a small tablet
of the kind often found on a PDA device or a notebook computer--to
write and edit arbitrarily long text in a restricted area.
In general, in one aspect, the invention features methods and
apparatus implementing a technique for processing handwritten marks
made on a machine-readable tablet. The technique includes providing
multiple regions for input on the tablet; receiving from a user
handwritten marks made in a current region of the plurality of
regions; receiving from the user an indication that the current
region is complete and thereupon selecting a different one of the
plurality of regions as the current region in which to receive
handwritten marks made by the user, whereby marks are received in a
sequence of at least two regions; and representing the handwritten
input as the aggregate of the marks written in the sequence of
regions in a writing direction, the marks in different input
regions having positions with respect to each other defined by a
logical concatenation of the regions on the sequence of regions.
The input can be arbitrarily-long markings of any kind.
Advantageous implementations of the invention include one or more
of the following features. A bounding box is defined for each input
region and the bounding boxes are logically concatenated to define
the positions of the marks in different input regions with respect
to each other. Each bounding box has a length in the writing
direction, which length is defined dynamically to fit the marks
made in the region. Each bounding box has a width perpendicular to
the writing direction, which width is the same for all bounding
boxes. The bounding box for each input region has a leading
boundary the position of which is fixed with respect to the input
region and a trailing boundary the position of which varies with
respect to the input region to accommodate the marks made in the
input region. The input regions and the sequence of input regions
have a writing direction but no other predefined structure with
respect to the marks to be made within the input regions. The
logical concatenation of regions includes logically concatenating a
trailing edge of one region to a leading edge of an immediately
subsequent region. The writing direction is horizontal or
vertical.
Handwritten marks can be received at any place and in any arbitrary
order within the current region. Handwritten marks are displayed
substantially simultaneously with the making of the marks.
Handwritten marks are stored as mark data in a memory operatively
coupled to the tablet, and the stored mark data is combined to form
the representation of the handwritten input. The mark data
represents the marks made by the user as set of times and positions
of a stylus on the tablet. Both a recently-written portion of the
handwritten marks as made by the user and the marks made by the
user in the current region are displayed while marks are being made
in the current region. The tablet is a display tablet having an
integrated display device. The recently-written portion of the
handwritten marks as made by the user is displayed at a reduced
size in a reviewing area on the display device. Unmarked space is
logically trimmed from one end but not from the opposite end of
each of the regions before logically concatenating the one end of
the region with a sequentially neighboring region. The plurality of
regions consists of two regions, and the user indicates that the
current one of the two regions is complete by making a mark in the
other one of the two regions. The display of the current region is
cleared after the user indicates that the current region is
complete. Handwritten marks can include editing marks such as marks
denoting a modification of marks previously made in the current
region. The modification can be erasure. The handwritten input can
be a signature. The tablet has an active area with a length of less
than about two and one-half inches in a writing direction. The
marks written in each region in the sequence of regions are
combined in an output stream as a chunk of data. This output stream
includes a sequence of chunks, and the locations of bounding box
boundaries are specified in the output stream. The handwritten
input is displayed in lines that break at input region boundaries.
The marks are received in a first region and a second region
alternately and concatenated logically to an output stream. The
mark data in the output stream are displayed by reflowing the mark
data in units of chunks in a display area. The display area is a
rectangular area defined within an electronic document. The
sequence of chunks can be edited by deleting a chunk, by inserting
a chunk, by replacing a chunk, by modifying a chunk, or by
rearranging chunks.
Advantages that may be seen in implementations of the invention
include one or more of the following. The invention allows a person
to write and edit text comfortably and reliably, even when the
input area is restricted. The invention allows a person to enter a
signature comfortably in a restricted area. The use of input
regions imposes no constraints on what can be written or on the
interpretation of what is written.
The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set
forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other
features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from
the description, the drawings, and the claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a diagram of a personal digital assistant showing a user
interface in accordance with the invention.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method for receiving and processing
handwritten markings in accordance with the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
FIG. 1 is a diagram of a personal digital assistant (PDA) 100
showing a user interface in accordance with the invention. The PDA
is a small, self-contained computer that has a microprocessor,
memory, input and output devices, and interfaces for add-on
devices. The PDA 100 runs an operating system that provides
functionality and services for applications, that is, for computer
programs configured to run on the PDA.
As will be described in reference to both FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the
display tablet of the PDA is controlled by software (computer
program instructions) executed by the microprocessor and other
elements of the PDA. The software implements a process 200 (FIG. 2)
that prepares the user interface shown on the display tablet for
handwritten input (step 202) by defining input regions 104 and 106
in the input or active area of the display tablet (step 204). Two
regions are sufficient, although more can be used, and the regions
need only be high enough (for horizontal writing) or wide enough
(for vertical writing) to allow a user to write one line height (or
width) comfortably. Optionally, the process can define a reviewing
area 102 for the user interface (step 206). The reviewing area 102
is used to display, in a reduced size, what the user has most
recently written. Displaying the recent writing at one-fourth scale
in the reviewing area provides good visual feedback to the
user.
The process 200 can be invoked by, or implemented in, any program
running on the PDA that requires or can accept handwritten input.
After having prepared the user interface, the process receives
input (step 210) in the form of marks made by the user on the
tablet in one of the regions (step 212). The process displays the
marks on the display tablet where the marks were made (step 214) as
the marks are made; or, if the input tablet is not a display
tablet, the process can display the marks on a monitor or other
display device connected to the computer running the process. If a
reviewing area has been defined, the marks made in the current
region are also displayed in the reviewing area.
Having begun writing in one of the input regions, the user can
continue writing in the region by making marks at any place and in
any order within the region. Thus, the user can go back and dot i's
and cross t's. If the underlying operating system or application
software supports erasure or other editing of marks on the input
tablet, the user can use all supported forms of erasure and
editing. The user can start over in the region by clicking the
"clear" button 108 (FIG. 1), which causes the process to erase the
region and allow the user to begin writing again. When the user is
done with the current input region, the user can so indicate by
making a mark in a different one of the input regions (step 218).
The process then optionally trims the completed region (step 220)
by logically trimming unmarked space from one end but not from the
opposite end of the region before adding the marks in the region to
an output stream. By trimming the unmarked space from the right of
the region but not the left, the process allows the user to insert
space intentionally within the writing by leaving blank space at
the left of a region, while not compelling the user to write all
the way to the right margin to avoid inserting unintended space.
This provides a natural writing interface for a user writing
left-to-right, and the same technique can be used, mutatis
mutandis, for writing that runs in any other direction.
The trimming can be accomplished by defining a bounding box for
each input region. To define the positions of the handwritten marks
from different input regions with respect to each other, the
bounding boxes are logically concatenated. The length of each
bounding box in the writing direction is defined dynamically to fit
the marks made in the corresponding input region. The width of each
bounding box perpendicular to the writing direction is
advantageously set to be the same for all bounding boxes and the
same as the width of the input region. To define the length
dynamically, the bounding box for each input region has a leading
boundary the position of which is fixed with respect to the input
region and a trailing boundary the position of which varies with
respect to the input region to accommodate the marks made in the
input region. As each input region is used or reused, a new
bounding box is defined for the marks newly made in the region.
The trimmed region defines a chunk of data, which is added to the
output stream (step 224). The display of marks in the reviewing
region also reflects the trimming of the region (step 228). In this
way, the region just completed is logically concatenated with the
sequentially preceding region, and all neighboring regions are
logically concatenated to form a representation of the user's
handwritten input.
If the user has more marks to make, the process continues (the "no"
branch from decision step 230) by repeating the actions of
receiving marks (now in the newly selected region), displaying the
marks in the region, and displaying the marks in the reviewing area
(collectively, step 210).
In FIG. 1, the input regions 104 and 106 and the reviewing area 102
are shown as displaying a signature that was begun in input region
106 and completed in input region 104. In actual operation, the
process would not display the handwritten marks in both input
regions as shown. The process clears the display of the current
region after the user indicates that the current region is
complete.
The user can indicate that both the current region and the entire
input sequence are complete by selecting the "done" button 110
(FIG. 1) on the user interface. When this occurs, the last region
can be, but need not be, trimmed (step 220), as has been described.
It is then added to the output stream. The process then provides
the entire output stream to a program--typically, an application
that requested the input (step 250 and "yes" branch of decision
step 230).
The markings made by the user are stored as data in a random access
memory of the PDA under control of the application and operating
software of the device. The data typically takes the form of sample
times and corresponding positions and pressures, if the device is
pressure sensitive.
The output stream is maintained in memory in the PDA. The output
stream is stored using a data structure, such as a linked list,
that maintains the separate identity of the chunks, thereby
preserving region boundary information and allowing programs that
receive and process the output stream to process the output stream
in chunk units. Alternatively, the output stream can be stored as a
linear array or list of sample points with additional data
specifying the location of region (that is, chunk) boundaries.
The output stream can be processed by an application program
running on the device that received the handwriting or by an
application program on a different computer that receives the
output stream data. For example, an output stream in a Palm III
organizer can be transmitted to a personal computer (step 250),
such as a computer running the Microsoft.RTM. Windows.RTM. 95
operating system or the Apple Computer Macintosh.RTM. operating
system, using the Palm Computing.RTM. Palm OS HotSync.RTM.
architecture.
An application program can manipulate the output stream data in a
number of useful ways (step 260). The application can fit cubic
curves, such as Bezier curves, and splines to the data (step 270).
The application can express the data in a page description
language, such as the PostScript.RTM. language, by fitting the
sample data points to drawing elements supported by the language,
and the page description language representation can be rendered
for display or printing (step 272). The application can display the
data in any of the foregoing forms in a target region, such as a
rectangular region within an electronic document, flowing the data
into the target region in chunk units, which will cause the
displayed representation of the handwriting to have line breaks
only at the original input-region boundaries (step 264). Pressure
data, if available, can be used to vary the thickness of displayed
lines and curves.
The application can edit the sequence of chunks in the output
stream by deleting a chunk, by inserting a chunk, by replacing a
chunk, and by rearranging chunks (step 268). Either as a set of
points or in a vector representation, each individual chunk can be
edited using bitmap or vector oriented editing tools.
The application can also apply a handwriting recognition process to
the output stream data to convert the markings data into text data
(step 274).
The process 200 can be implemented using commonly-available
software development tools for the platform or platforms on which
the computer programs implementing the process are to run.
The invention can be implemented in digital electronic circuitry,
or in computer hardware, firmware, software, or in combinations of
them. Apparatus of the invention can be implemented in a computer
program product tangibly embodied in a machine-readable storage
device for execution by a programmable processor. Method steps of
the invention can be performed by a programmable processor
executing a program of instructions to perform functions of the
invention by operating on input data and generating output. The
invention can advantageously be implemented in one or more computer
programs that are executable on a programmable system including at
least one programmable processor coupled to receive data and
instructions from, and to transmit data and instructions to, a data
storage system, at least one input device, and at least one output
device. Each computer program can be implemented in a high-level
procedural or object-oriented programming language, or in assembly
or machine language if desired. The language can be a compiled or
interpreted language. Suitable processors include, by way of
example, both general and special purpose microprocessors.
Generally, a processor will receive instructions and data from a
read-only memory and/or a random access memory. Storage devices
suitable for tangibly embodying computer program instructions and
data include all forms of non-volatile memory, including by way of
example semiconductor memory devices, such as EPROM, EEPROM, and
flash memory devices; magnetic disks such as internal hard disks
and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM disks. Any
of the foregoing can be supplemented by, or incorporated in, ASICs
(application-specific integrated circuits).
A suitable programmable processing system for implementing
apparatus or performing methods of the invention includes a
processor, a random access memory (RAM), a program memory (for
example, a writable read-only memory (ROM) such as a flash ROM), an
input tablet controller, a display device controller, and an
input/output (I/O) controller coupled by a processor (CPU) bus. The
system can be preprogrammed in ROM or it can be programmed (and
reprogrammed) by loading a program from another source.
The invention has been described in terms of particular
embodiments. Other embodiments are within the scope of the
following claims. For example, the steps of the invention can be
performed in a different order and still achieve desirable results.
The input regions and reviewing area have been illustrated as
running horizontally. For input in languages written vertically,
the input regions and reviewing area would run from top to bottom
on the input tablet. The tablet can be an input-only device and the
marks made by the user can be displayed on a different device. The
invention can be implemented on a palm, notebook, desktop, or other
form of a computer. The sampling of the input tablet can be done at
a variable rate as well as a fixed rate. A completed region can be
trimmed to a bounding box around the markings, or the two ends of
the bounding box perpendicular to the writing direction can be
trimmed while leaving the sides of the bounding box parallel to the
writing direction fixed. A trailing edge strip of the current
region can be reproduced at the leading edge margin of what will be
the next region so that the user can align and join markings across
region boundaries easily and accurately. If the user does join
marks across region boundaries, the pair of regions can be treated
as a single chunk when reflowing the output stream. The bounding
box, or markers identifying the locations of one or more sides of
the bounding box, and in particular a marker identifying the
location of the trailing edge side of the bounding box, can be
displayed with the marks made by the user. The reviewing area can
be implemented with scrolling, so that the user can scroll to and
select a chunk of data, display it, edit it, and restore it to the
output stream.
* * * * *
References